Home-Cooked: Raisin Scones :)

There are a couple of things I've been baking quite a hell of a lot of ;p, much to the chagrin joy of my mum and sis who are inevitably the first people to taste whatever comes out of the oven. The top three things I've baked in the past month would have to be: 1. Citrus Cake, 2. Cinnamon Raisin Rolls, 3. Raisin Scones. The last of which took me AGGGESSSS to get right!! As a pretty amateur baker, most times when things don't turn out as expected I can only think of two reasons - weird recipe or poor technique. So when the first batch of raisin scones turned out stone hard (after repeated stints in the oven until the insides FINALLY baked), I thought, maybe it's the recipe. So I switched to another one. The second time however, it STILL turned out badly. Rock hard and tiny. Not quite the light and fluffy scones I'd been expecting. That was when I googled a bit more about scones and found out a GOLDEN rule for scone-baking: the dough should be kneaded as little as possible!! The more you knead it, the denser it becomes and the less it rises. 


Armed with that knowledge, I'm happy to report that the past two batches of raisin scones have turned out pretty darn awesomely. :D PLUS, I've been using a recipe from Epicurious.com that's garnered 4.5 stars (well, they use little fork icons :D) all round.




Tonight's one turned out well! This recipe is just perfect - the scones come up crispy and crumbly on the outside and are soft enough on the inside. And they go so well with some berry jam. I used the recipe from Epicurious.com and the only minor alteration I made was omitting the vanilla extract and lemon peel for flavoring along with the beaten egg for coating the scones right before baking. I think it makes the scones a little too brown (bordering on charred!) so without the coating, it comes out evenly browned throughout after 20 minutes of baking, just as the recipe stated. 


I happen to think that the hardest part of baking is actually finding people who are willing to eat the stuff you bake! There's only so much of your own food that you can take and without people to polish off your food, how will you ever move on to another recipe and keep improving?? Fortunately, my groupmates happen to be a bunch of ravenous eaters who have rather non-selective palates and are very easy to please. :) 


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I can't believe the weekend's gone by so quickly! These past few weeks of term time have been extremely tiring :( what with waking up extremely early (does arriving at 6.30am in the morning smack of insanity? I think so too!) and going home late. I've never appreciated weekends and the opportunity to sleep in more than I have right this moment. I'm sure things will get better with better time management...and more rest. I've also discovered a great company called The School of Positive Psychology that posts pretty awesome photos on FB that always remind me to keep positive. I think I'm going to pop down one day and possibly take a course or two.

 

 source: The School of Positive Psychology 

But honestly, one thing I feel strongly about is that adequate sleep is the bedrock for all positive thought. So, it's bedtime for me kiddos. Here's to a great week ahead~! xx